UNSC Spirit of Fire (AAO)
{|style="width:100%; color:#FFF;" |valign="top" style="padding:10px;" class="oni"| Vessel History Years adrift Following the destruction of the Shield world the Spirit of Fire was left unable to enter slipspace and far from UNSC controlled space. As such all systems were diverted to keeping crew members alive until a point in which they could be recovered. During this time addition systems were brought online to prevent asteroid impacts vital areas that with no proper maintenance crew she was unable to repair. An upside to this was to record a number of resource rich planetoids and what is believed to be a Forerunner frigate sub- variant embedded in a large glacial ice sheet. Any raw materials that were recovered were instantly put into repairing the various damages it had received, including structural failures in areas that the Covenant destroyer had stuck during ramming operations. Sadly one of the Vessel’s blocks –containing one of the vast hanger bays had to be purged, this later becoming embedded in the Glacial planet’s surface to act as a marker for UNSC search teams. Overall during the trip only 20% of its electronic systems had failed, most of these being hit due to power conduits rupturing after damage by various Micro-meteor showers that impacted one of the primary power conduits and caused an overload to lower levels of the vessel. Near Destruction Following the vessel’s rediscovery the Spirit of Fire was fitted with a Forerunner slipspace drive to replace its missing original and moved to a near-by system to remove its crew, before the vessel was then taken to Mars. Once there is docked at an orbital phase one breakers yard to have the majority of its systems pulled out, this resulting in uproar by local historians that wished to preserve on of the few remaining Phoenix class colony vessels post retrofit. Weeks of discussion and a strike by the local yard lead to the forcing of the UNSC’s hands by PR officials to “Prevent an unnecessary down turn in relations” As such the ship was left in orbit, awaiting the UNSC to receive proposed uses to what would soon become a rather interesting development. Research and Development proposal Multiple companies be it Research or private militias took interest in the vessel, the scientific community taking an interest for test vessels, the Phoenix class becoming a prime target, due to its modular system –something that was supposed to assist in its deconstruction- The overall concept however was that any section could easily be emptied whilst retaining a basic, large external structure that they wouldn’t need to remanufactured at a later date. Finally a payment of one Billion credits was offered to the department in charge of its deconstruction by the Ptolemaios and its shadow group the Kokiri Foundation. This meant that the ship was now more expensive than the sum of its parts and it would also allow continued research into Progenitor technology that ONI had been investing funding into its projects. Due to its spending an extended amount of time without power, minimal repairs along with the replacement of its Slipspace drive –which had been removed after its arrival at the breakers- A small ceremony was given as the ship broke free of the yard under its own power, something many had thought it wouldn’t be able to. Retrofit Upon its arrival in Earth orbit, Spirit of fire was towed to a maintenance dock above Arzchel Base where a series of overhauls to its external structure were undertaken –in the event of the vessel suffering catastrophic structural collapse during atmospheric entry- A total of three months were spent preforming the necessary repairs, many Ptolemaios specialists arriving to pre-plan every single detail of the overhaul. By 2572 the vessel was escorted into Earth orbit, its destination one of Ptolemaios’ Dry-dock facilities close to the Clyde river in Glasgow –This facility containing anti-gravity generators to prevent unneeded strain to any sections of the hull during the dismantling phase of the project. During this period all non-vital components were removed, some of the early unit prototypes for some equipment being set to storage as all electronics were gutted. A notable incident during this period was during the MA cannon’s removal from the main body where a large section of the internal matrix broke free of the cannon and crashed onto the dock, no one being injured and no delays preventing any unneeded increases in funding. It should also be noted that the many thousand tons of scrap materials were reused partly into creating a Duo of Frigates to assist in combat test Ptolemaios were planning. Large amounts of the outer plating was stripped off during this period, all of it being quickly recycled to provide much newer plating to provide a greater amount of protection to the various new subsystems. All 22 deck gun emplacements were stripped off and sections surrounding these areas converted to hold power conduits for both 16 Mark III Mini MA cannons and 6 prototype weapons that were inspired by the Spartan Laser and one of Ptolemaios many black projects. All point defenses were quickly removed, retractable pulse laser pods instead taking their place; this along with 300 Archer pods being fitted around its hull gave it a capable defensive armament however devices added just before launch greatly improved this. Additional to these weapons were a number of prototype technologies that the ship was originally purchased for, this included Enhanced Plasma Torpedo launchers and an untested Shield generator system that would be tested during the space fight. According to Ptolemaios records the vessel’s first series of overhauls were completed ahead of schedule, not going over budget at any-point of its construction. However wither this data is correct is unknown, all files being seal in Ptolemaios’ secured vaults to prevent any data on the vessel’s capabilities being discovered. A prelaunch ceremony was undertaken following this, Spirit of fire was taken into Earth orbit where armaments and minimal UNSC/ONI crews were loaded as pre-test run preparations; however a restriction of access to a central region of the ship was restricted to Ptolemaios and ONI personnel only. Test Flight UNSC Spirit of Fire was then assigned to an inner-colony patrol group to guard, all systems being monitored by her UNSC crew. However, control of a majority of ship systems still remained in the clutches of Ptolemaios operators. The First battle the vessel partook in resulted in the crippling of a Brute controlled Carrier, the Mark III Cannons and Enhanced Prototype Laser cannons causing heavy damage to the ship. Following this; marine crews boarded and disabled its control systems, loading an infiltration package to disable its airlocks and vent its atmosphere, after this UNSC Spirit of Fire continued her tour whilst Ptolemaios pulled as many strings as it could to gain a frontline combat role for the vessel. However an technical defect became present with the vessel’s power core, unable to produce the large amounts of power needed to maintain combat levels, the power demands simply too great to allow for continued operations. Thanks to technical support AI’s new distribution systems were devised to maintain continued use of a majority of weapon systems, shunting power to Defense or Offence as it was needed. Battle of Yamato During patrol of an outer colony world Yamato; Spirit of fire was pulled into duty to defend the colony as it came under attack from a Brute strike fleet. Upon arrival in the inner system it took position behind an Asteroid and allowed both of its MACs to be charged and capacitors activated before switching over to all power to generate its shields. In total a Brute fleet amounted to 4 CCS class battle cruisers and a single Assault carrier with the intent of raiding a Forerunner dig site, trying to acquire any data locked within its database. The resulting decimation of automated defense stations allowed for Spirit of Fire to emerge relatively undetected and lead to the subsequent destruction of a CCS Battle Cruiser which took multiple direct volleys to its power-core, resulting in damage to two other CCS vessels. The Assault carrier preformed a pin-point slipspace jump during this assault and emerged in orbit of the planet’s atmosphere just above the dig-site. Ground defense teams were quickly taken out by the resulting hordes of Brute troops. Near the conclusion of the orbital battle Spirit of Fire suffered a direct hit to its primary shield emitter and resulted in all systems being diverted into weapon systems and Plasma Torpedo disruptors. All three of the remaining cruisers were quickly disabled and primary systems and proceeded to bombard the dig site from orbit, causes heavy damage to the Carrier before it performed an emergency jump away from the planet, tearing out the entire forerunner facility with its gravity lift and leaving only the facilities power generators. Firebases were subsequently deployed to near-by colonies that were suffering attack by raiders. A three day battle ensued but eventually leading to the capture of the colony. Ptolemaios quickly extracted these power generators before returning to Earth for the 2.1 refit- a two month overhaul that would deal with a number of issues and add a number of systems. 2.1 Overhaul Ptolemaios returned to Earth after a short period where it was docked at Arzchel once again, its main reactor block removed and replaced with a dual fusion core reactor to improve power output along with installation of recovered Pulse generators, these be placed inside the restricted zone along with the core of a fallen Progenitor Keeper in preparations for the second Frame modifications. Minor changes to the hull, including alteration of hard-points to allowed for quicker modification. Extended tour The Spirit of Fire, following its overhaul was then returned to combat as technical crews preform construction on the so called “Second Frame” that would allow the vessel to become a much greater force and hold greater amounts of equipment. During its combat tour, which ran from late 2574 to early 2577 allowed all unlocked functions to be tested and for Ptolemaios crews to plan what needed to be added into the Second frame concept, allowing for maximum operations. In total the vessel sunk 14 CCS battle cruisers and captured a Covenant Corvette type –this being integrated into the rather lacking defense fleet- but in March 2577 the Spirit of Fire was forced to return to space dock once again, this time to receive the second frame, the final stage in its planned current upgrades. The Second Frame Later history The Spirit of Fire would later be docked on a near permanent basis with the Ultra long range exploration ship UNSC Trailblazer. Design Pre-Second frame External structure Internal Power plant Propulsion Shielding Armor Armament Primary Armament The vessel received a number of specialized weaponry during the overhaul that included a lot of prototype systems. Enhanced PoA weapon system x2 Inspired by the MAC that was installed during the overhaul –replacing a much larger and inefficient MAC that had been installed before 2520 and as a result allowed for two much more compact Cannons to be fitted in these place along with capacitors –These present to deal with the power drain and allows the cannon to hold a charge for a much greater period- however a large period of time must be spent charging these weapons. An additional feature uses the capacitors to perform a slow charge and allow other systems to remain online at a reduced operational level. Each cannon can fire 3 shots as per the original design; however an additional round can be added, however this is not recommended, as it can increase wear to the magnetic coils. Mini Mac Mark III x 16 Mark III Magnetic Accelerator Cannon These cannons were placed on the deck to replace the outdated deck-guns, these however taking up much more room on the deck. These allowed for the vessels to rein heavy and sometimes critical damage to its targets. The power output of these weapons however require a large amount of power to be divertedfrom shields to allow for optimal use. S-Laser Cannon x 6 Through the years since the introduction of the Spartan laser and development of Ptolemaios’ replacement weapon the concept of a much larger. Starship mounted version was developed, using the schematic of their own weapon design. However it required a large specialized matrix that required replacement every 5 shots, the damage per shot being able to deplete a CCS class energy shield with two direct hits. It is however less effective against a vessel’s super structure as it has been known to dissipate energy across the hull but can still boil through multiple sections. An overall issue however is the power consumption, these weapons taking up 60% of the vessels power supply in order to fire and as such no other weapons can be activated during and 10 minutes after firing of these weapons in order to allow for the reactor time to recover. In addition a new matrix is in development to allow for increased usage. Enhanced Plasma Torpedo launcher Installed during the 2.1 overhaul this was placed in the lower hull of the vessel in the form of an extra module that contains a large plasma tank to fuel each of the four projectors place in hard points alongside the module. Each of these has been enhanced using a number of modifications that include: Increased range, faster charge rate and increased plasma volume. The generators are placed inside the module however requires a direct link to the drive in order to regenerate the tanks, this function also consumes a lot of power in order to refill the tank and so it is normally done after combat and instead uses the Plasma that has already been stored up. Secondary Armament Other Defense systems Sensors and Jamming Equipment An advanced sensor/Jamming array module was fitted to replace one of the former colony packs to allow for the use of a number of systems that include. This contains some of the most powerful processors currently available to Ptolemaios. This module has been secured under 4 cm of Titanium A battleplate to prevent any damage. It is placed directly below the central shaft that leads directly into the vessels so called “Core” facility. Quantum Wave front detector Taken from the debris of a Progenitor Keeper, this is an advanced set of arrays and systems designed to enhance slipspace navigation and control of Phasing system that was also recovered from the Progenitor vessel. This system allows the detection of rips in a much greater scale than the covenant counterpart, it is held inside a sealed hyper dense alloy container along with various other sensitive components. It has also been hypothesized that the vessel can enter slipspace in orbit of a gas giant with its precise calculations. This system can be further exploited as the Wave-Front system is one of the vital components of the phasing system and as such could allow the Spirit of Fire to enter and exit the Slipspace Bubble that all Progenitor keepers use with modifications to the drive. Other technical applications mean it can track the exit vessel of any starship that entered slipspace by detecting its vector and any micro jumps in its proximity can also be trace with 80% precision. Remote Guidance Shield Drones Other Systems Bridge Overhaul New interior design The Core Development problems Power issues During the initial years of its overhaul the power core of the Spirit of Fire proved to be inadequate and as such the power distribution was developed until the 2.1 refit. During this time only some weapons could be activated at once. This would be solved when an upgraded reactor was installed along with minimal power provided from the Forerunner Pulse generator recovered in during the battle of Yamato and installed into its sealed core. Spirit of Fire (AAO), UNSC Category:Individual UNSC Ships